IRVINE, Calif. --- The 2018 men's soccer season is right around the corner, and the 'Eaters have two tune-up matches before everything gets real on August 24.
Game Week Zero
Just over a week since the 'Eaters began training, they will put it to the test with the first of a pair of exhibition matches. Thursday afternoon's 3:00 p.m. match in Anteater Stadium features a second straight exhibition matchup with Bakersfield after a 2-0 defeat of the Runners in 2017. The match comes as the first part of a doubleheader with UC Irvine women's soccer following it with its season opener against No. 12 USC.
The 'Eaters finish the week with another exhibition matchup going on the road to UCLA for a Sunday night matchup. The Bruins and Anteaters will play the second overall game and first men's soccer game in UCLA's newly-built Wallis Annenberg Soccer Stadium on the campus of UCLA. UCI opened up another program's stadium in 2011 when it traveled to the University of Nebraska-Omaha in the program's inaugural home match.
The Anteaters are unbeaten in its last three exhibition matches winning last season at Bakersfield, drawing at UNLV in 2015, and winning its last home exhibition in 2014, 3-1, against Cal.
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Exhibition Match
Bakersfield Roadrunners at
UC Irvine Anteaters
Thursday, August 16 - 3:00 PM
Anteater Stadium - Irvine, Calif.
Live Stats |
Game Program
Exhibition Match
UC Irvine Anteaters at UCLA Bruins
Sunday, August 19 - 7:00 PM
Wallis Annenberg Stadium - Los Angeles, Calif.
Trending Up
UC Irvine's 8-8-3 campaign and fourth place finish in the Big West South in 2017 doesn't jump off the page, but its a move in the right direction after back-to-back five-win seasons in 2015 and 2016. The goals rose with the results with the team scoring 35 goals, up from 20 in 2016 and 23 in 2015. The Anteaters also dropped 41 assists on those goals last season, its most since 2010's total of 42 assists.
Back for More
Here for his second season as the head coach of the Anteaters is
Yossi Raz. He made great strides within his first two years as the head of Cal Poly Pomona taking a program that won three matches prior to his arrival, pushed them to a 7-7-3 mark in his first go, and jumped to a 17-1-2 record in his second season leading to a national title appearance by his third year.
What's Missing?
The right foot of
Giovanni Godoy is the largest omission from the 2018 Anteaters after the reigning Big West Offensive Player of the Year graduated and is now playing alongside 'Eater alum Mats Bjurman on Orange County SC. His conference-leading 13 goals accounted for 37% of UC Irvine's production including half of the squad's eight game-winning goals.
Senior Step-Up
The Anteater core in 2018 will be strongly represented by senior leadership of
Ivan Canales,
Daniel Crisostomo, and
Luis Leon. Canales returns following a third All-Big West selection, the midfielder centerpiece has a new number and an edge and the attacking leader going forward. Crisostomo is one of the nation's leading returners in assists after dishing out nine as a junior. Over the summer, he continued to add to his resume in the midfield playing for Orange County FC and was named to the National XI for the season of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL). Leon has rode a consistent offensive ledger accounting for multiple goals and at least six points in each of his first three years as an Anteater.
Second-Year Sensations
The Anteaters got positive dividends from its new crop of transfers a year ago with a steady hand in the midfield from
Victor Falck, and also on the backline,
Jose Soto stood above the rest earning an All-Big West selection. Impactful freshmen
Alvaro Quezada and
Lawrence Yamaguchi fit right in to coach Raz's mentality, and will be prime figures to keep the scoring at a high level for the 'Eaters
Chon Zone
Another hefty absence will be the skillful frame of
Mario Ortiz who contribute nine assists a year ago, but another Ortiz, Jose, is primed to join the scoring barrage. He's contributed five goals to this point in his career including three as a sophomore
Keeper's Corner
The healthiest competition on the squad could come between the posts with senior
Greg Patenaude and junior
Alex Waldron each coming in with an experienced hand. Patenaude finished the 2017 season as the No. 1 guy scoring a pair of wins in the final three matches. Waldron played half of the matches in his first year, and them rolled through a majority of his sophomore campaign atop the depth chart putting together nine wins and five shutouts across the seasons. The two will likely each see time through the exhibition matches.
What does the Future Hold?
The recently-revealed nine newcomers joining the squad in 2018 for coach Raz features some very veteran talent. Three transfers enter the fray with two in line to be big parts of the 2018 plans. Senior back
Darren Hamilton has commanded backlines on the junior college and Division I levels, and will provide a huge boost to pair with Soto.
Jalani Ambrose has a couple of years experience from Santa Clara skating down the wings and being thrust into a defensive role. In addition to the vets, the 'Eaters bring on six freshmen that could be called upon with an abbreviated roster of 25 players at coach Raz's disposal. The likes of
Axel Adler and
Ben Reveno who will make their first steps onto an Anteater pitch, and the returns of redshirtsÂ
Manny Acosta and Christian "GunGun" Gutierrez will also be felt in the formation
Opposing Views
UC Irvine's collective schedule might not be so daunting from first glance, but a lot of postseason experience lays in waiting for the Anteaters with squads like Pacific and San Francisco coming off tourney appearances last year. Others have been successful elsewhere such as UCF projected to win the American Athletic Conference in the preseason, James Madison the reigning Colonial Athletic Association regular season champs, and Brown finish third a year ago in a highly-competitve Ivy League. In addition, five Anteater opponents have earned votes in the United Soccer Coaches preseason rankings which includes Sunday's opponent, UCLA.
